Aleris Celebrates Ford Q1 Status at Kentucky Facility

Aleris welcomed several representatives from Ford Motor Company to its facility in Lewisport, Kentucky recently to celebrate Aleris’ distinction as a Ford Q1 Award recipient, a recognition granted to Ford suppliers for their demonstration of good quality and delivery scores, maintaining third-party certifications, and receiving endorsements from all customer plant locations, Manufacturing Planning and Logistics, along with Purchasing and Supplier Technical Assistance.

The delegation from Ford presented Aleris with a plaque and joined the company in raising a Ford Q1 flag at the facility formally acknowledging its supplier status. The ceremony was followed by a tour of Aleris’ new North American automotive facility and R&D center in Lewisport which is set to begin serving the automotive industry later this year.

“This is an important accomplishment because it demonstrates that our facility can meet and exceed the standards of automotive Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs),” said Andy Ishmael, Vice President of Automotive, North America. “It’s great to have proven success before our new assets in Lewisport begin producing additional products for automotive customers later this year.”

While Aleris has more than 30 years of experience supplying premium automotive manufacturers in Europe, this new $400 Million automotive facility makes Lewisport Aleris’ first automotive body sheet facility in North America. Automotive capabilities in Lewisport now include the addition of heat treatment and finishing capabilities, including a new wide cold mill, two continuous annealing lines and an automotive innovation center.

A critical component of the Lewisport expansion and the site’s automotive readiness initiative is making sure that Aleris is ready to meet the expectations of an automotive OEM in North America. In addition to achieving Q1 status, the Aleris team has maintained 100% on-time delivery performance to Ford since November 2015.

By achieving and maintaining Q1 status, Aleris will be classified as a preferred supplier to Ford and will be considered for both new and incremental business in the future.

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